5. Behind Glass
1441 Words
5
Behind Glass
Emilia sat on the veranda, curled up in a blanket. She gazed through the trees. The first hints of gold touched their leaves. They looked peaceful. She knew somewhere out in the woods centaurs patrolled the borders of the property. And beyond the centaurs, the fortaceria, the shield spell that surrounded the Mansion House, would block any who dared to attack.
Iz had done everything she could to protect the house. Communication with the outside had been cut off. Emilia smirked as she remembered Claire’s tantrum when the internet had been disconnected. There were spells and shields protecting them, but it still felt strange to sit alone outside the house. Exposed.
Could someone be watching the house now? The Pendragon―she shuddered, trying to keep from thinking the words my father―was still out there. It had been months since he had tried to burn her and Jacob to death in the woods. He hadn’t tried to contact, or kidnap, or kill her since. And that scared her. How did someone go from trying to murder you to leaving you alone completely?
He would come for her, that much she knew. But when? And how many more people she loved would he hurt to get to her?
“Emilia,” Connor called as he opened the door to the veranda, “Ms. Gray wants all of us in the dining room, right now.”
Emilia stood and followed him inside. The air in the house felt different. If fear had a scent, it was here.
When they got to the dining room, the whole family was already seated. Professor Eames had tracks of tears running down his face, Molly was even paler than usual, and Iz didn’t look at Emilia as she entered the room.
Emilia moved to take her seat next to Claire, but something made her stop. She picked up her chair and put it next to Jacob’s. Whatever was wrong, if it had to do with the Pendragon, then it was her and Jacob he was after, even more than Aunt Iz.
Claire raised an eyebrow and grinned at Emilia.
“I am sorry to have to call all of you here,” Aunt Iz said. “I received a skry from Rendell of the Bonforte Clan.”
Emilia gripped the arms of her chair. The Bonforte Clan was way down south. They were centered in Louisiana. What could have happened so far away?
“Rendell hadn’t heard from Olivia for a few days. He got worried and went to her estate. It had been destroyed,” Iz said, her voice flat.
“What do you mean destroyed?” Jacob sat forward in his seat. “Did they burn it?”
“It appears the Dragons released Nandi from the Bois Noir Confine,” Iz said.
Emilia shuddered along with everyone else but Jacob.
“What’s a Nandi?” Jacob asked, looking from Iz to Professor Eames.
“Nandi are more like hyenas than any other normal beast,” Professor Eames answered. “Fanged, blood thirsty, and extraordinarily strong, they’re confined in one of the Bonforte Clan Preserves, far out of reach of humans. Nandi are vicious creatures and cannot be harmed by most spells. If they attacked without warning, there would have been little hope of the Bonfortes defending themselves. And it appears the Nandi came in the night.”
“How did they get to Miss Olivia’s house?” Claire asked. “If they were supposed to be locked up?”
“We are still working on that,” Aunt Iz said. “Other members of the Bonforte Clan are looking into it.”
“Was anyone else at the estate?” Emilia asked, trying to push the images of gnashing teeth and blood-soaked fur from her mind.
“A few family members, guards”―Aunt Iz paused―“and a few students.”
“Did anyone survive?” Connor asked.
“No,” Iz said, her voice shaking for the first time. “There were no survivors or Nandi left when Rendell got to the estate.”
“Are they trying to find the Nandi?” Claire looked over her shoulder at the door as though expecting a herd of snarling beasts to come bursting into the house.
Emilia resisted the urge to look as well.
“They are.” Iz nodded. “We are sending some of our Clan to join the search.”
“My dad?” Connor asked.
“Yes, he is with the group,” Molly said.
“I want to go help him.” Connor stood up. “If my dad is out there, I should be, too.”
“Your father wants you here where you’re safe,” Molly said.
“Are we safe?” Claire reached out and pulled Connor back to his seat.
Aunt Iz didn’t answer.
“We’re as safe as we can be, Claire.” Emilia tried to muster a smile. “We’ll be fine.”
Emilia reached over and took Jacob’s hand, using his touch to keep herself from slipping into the panic that pounded in her chest. Jacob squeezed her hand, and she felt a little calmer.
“I liked Miss Olivia,” Claire said softly. “She was nice to me when she came to help us look for you.”
“She was a wonderful woman,” Professor Eames said. “She will be missed.”
Molly stood and left the room. Connor followed her out.
Sometimes Emilia forgot they were a part of a family away from the Grays. The danger went beyond the people in this house. Even the humans were threatened, though they didn’t know it.
Iz left, and the professor followed, shuffling out of the room, looking every bit the elderly man he was.
As soon as he was gone, Claire turned to Emilia. “Do you really think Connor’s family should stay out in the woods? Shouldn’t we make them come here?”
“Aunt Iz will figure it out,” Emilia said.
“But we’ll all be together?” Claire’s bottom lip trembled.
“We’ll do whatever we have to to stay safe,” Emilia said.
Claire stood and hugged Jacob and Emilia, banging their heads together, before running out of the room.
Jacob watched Claire leave. “Do you think Iz will keep us all here?” he said as Claire’s footsteps pounded up the stairs.
“She’ll do whatever it takes to keep us alive.” Emilia covered her face with her hands, blocking out the light of the room. “And if she thinks we’ll be better off away from the Mansion House, away from her, she’ll make us go.”
“They would all be safer without us,” Jacob muttered.
Emilia dropped her hands. She had known that was true but hadn’t expected Jacob to say it.
“Claire, Connor, all of them would be safer far away from the two of us.” Jacob stood, as though ready to run away. “What do we do?”
His eyes were wide and desperate. This was his family, too.
Emilia wanted to hold him, to tell him everything would be all right. But that was a lie. There could be Nandi in the woods around the house right now.
“We have to stay here. We have to make sure everyone is protected.” Emilia turned and left the room. They had to stay with the family.
For now.
It was drizzling and cold. The wind whipped through her hair. The night was dark with only the streetlamps to light the way. Emilia walked down the path. Cages lined both sides, but Emilia was drawn to a large window up ahead.
She peered down into the enclosure expecting to see a lion, but instead she saw a centaur picking food out of a dog bowl and another batting at a ball.
Suddenly the sun was blazing, and children were banging on the glass, tormenting the centaurs who hid behind the boulders in their pen. Emilia tried to claw through the glass, desperate to free the centaurs, but she couldn’t break through.
She ran, pushing her way through the crowd to find another way in, but every time she turned a corner, another magical species was locked up―mermaids in tanks, fauns in a cage. She ran through an entire building with fairies in terrariums along the walls. At the end of the fairy house, she burst through a door and ran into a circus ring.
A spotlight blinded her. She looked down at her body and realized she was wearing a skimpy witch costume. The crowd jeered. She turned to go back the way she’d come, but the door was gone. Dexter’s voice resonated through the circus tent.
“Ladies and gentlemen, up next we have our very own Emilia Gray, the Wicked Witch and Dragon Tamer.”
Emilia looked at her hand, which now held a long, black leather whip. Flames lashed at her face from across the ring as an enormous dragon crept toward her, spitting fire and gnashing its teeth. Emilia tried to run away, but no matter how fast she ran, she could not escape the dragon. The ground disappeared beneath her, and she was running on a tight rope. She looked down and heard the crowd gasp as she slipped from the rope and fell into the dragon’s waiting mouth.
Emilia sat up in bed, trying to stifle her own scream. She pulled a pillow to her chest, shaking and drenched in her own sweat.
- Writer
